 “He thought he was the handsomest guy in the Western Hemisphere. He was pretty handsome, too”  Stradlater hated breaking rules.  Same height but weighed twice as much as Holden  Very strong  Has long “gorgeous locks”  Unscrupulous  Roommate  Always in a big hurry  Everything was a very big deal  Pretty friendly – “was partly a phony kind of friendly”  Piercing whistle that was never in tune.  “Stradlater was more of a secret slob.”  His razor “was always rusty as hell and full of lather and hairs and crap.”  “He always shaved himself twice, to look gorgeous.”  “He was always asking you to do him a big favour.”  “He wanted you to think that the only reason he was lousy at writing compositions was because he stuck all the commas in the wrong place.”  “He didn’t have too bad a sense of humour.”  Flatters people to get his way.  “Stradlater was a very sexy bastard”  “That was one good thing about Stradlater. You didn’t have to explain every god dam little thing to him, the way you did with Ackley.”  “You couldn’t rile him too easily. He was too conceited.”  “He was mad about himself.”  “He hated it when you called him a moron. All the morons hate it when you call them a moron.”

 “..this tear plopped down on the checkerboard… Then she really started to cry.” After a while she went in a “put on this red and white sweater she had”.  Never necked. “I don’t want you to get the idea she was a goddam icicle or something… I held hands with her all the time, for instance.”  “She practically lived right next door to me, the summer before last.”  Had a “big damn Doberman pinscher”  Dancer; “ballet and all. She used to practice about two hours every day”  Used to play checkers. “She wouldn’t move any of her kings… She just liked the way they looked when they were all in the back row.”  Had a lousy childhood.  Her mother was to married to some ‘booze hound’.  “You never wanted to kid Jane too much. I think I really like it best when you can kid the pants off a girl when the opportunity arises, but it’s a funny thing. The girls I like best are the ones I never feel much like kidding”.  “She wouldn’t let me get to her mouth.”

Jane crying after her step dad came out indicates that he sexually abuses her, though she denies it when Holden asks. Maybe because she’s ashamed or she finds it difficult to talk about. Holden believes Jane when she tells him that she wasn’t abused which was ignorant of him. He believed that because she of her innocence she wouldn’t lie to him. This abuse were possibly the cause of the loss of innocence for Jane. When Jane ‘ keeps her kings at the back ’ it symbolises being virtuous. It was her way of protecting what she holds dear. This is the main way in which Holden relates to Jane as his main aim is to protect the innocence of children. We only know the Jane that Holden played checkers with and not the Jane who went on a date with Stradlater. Holden thinks they are the same person; “ I knew she wouldn’t let him get to first base with her, but it drove me crazy anyway.” When in fact Holden is trying to hold on to the innocent memories of Jane as to not taint his portrayal of her innocence. Jane is very significant to Holden. He admires her or at least the childhood memory of her. He mentions throughout the book the fact that he should ‘give her a buzz’ but he can’t bring himself to do so. This is possibly because he cannot bring himself to confront reality. When Stradlater tells him that he and Jean (Jane) were going on a date, Holden became excited the Jane had remembered him, yet, as the hours passed by he began to dwell on what Stradlater and Jane were doing on this date and when Stradlater refused to give Holden a straight answer, Holden became agitated and defensive saying things like; “ You don’t even know if her first name it Jane or Jean, ya goddam moron.” The phrase “ Stradlater was a very sexy bastard ” doesn’t refer to the way that Stradlater looks; it refers to the way Stradlater acts. He, unlike Holden, sees sex as a casual thing rather than a way to show your affection and adoration to someone you love. Stradlater doesn’t seem like someone who would take no for an answer. On page 43, when Holden is discussing one time when he double dated with Stradlater, Holden mentions how he knew Stradlater’s technique. “… He’d start snowing his date in this very quiet, sincere voice - like as if he wasn’t only a very handsome guy but a nice, sincere guy, too… His date kept saying, “ No – please. Please, don’t. Please.” But old Stradlater kept snowing her in this Abraham Lincoln, sincere voice… I don’t think he gave that girl the time that night – but damn near. Damn near.” This suggests that if Holden and his date hadn’t been there, Stradlater would’ve taken advantage of her.

The characters Jane and Stradlater have a significant influence on Holden. Holden is to some extent fixed upon Jane’s character. When he found out that Stradlater and Jane spent their date in the back of Ed Banky’s car he became agitated. His ‘voice was shaking something awful’. “ I kept thinking about Jane, and about Stradlater having a date with her and all. It made me so nervous I nearly went crazy.” Holden became very angry when Stradlater would not tell him what they did and attempted to punch him, but he missed and Stradlater pinned him down onto the floor with his knees and soon punched Holden. His face was covered in blood and he was, for some reason, fascinated by it. “ All the blood sort of made me look tough ”. These events illuminate the theme in which Holden is fixed upon the idea of seeing and speaking to Jane, but as he only remembers her for what she was like as child, he cannot bring himself to do so. He cannot overcome the idea that Jane has grown up and matured, so when he finds out she is going on this date with Stradlater it drives him ‘mad’.